Pagan, Scutaro happy to stay with Giants

GIANTS

As the Giants guzzled adult beverages after Game 4 of the World Series, Matt Cain and Ryan Vogelsong told Angel Pagan, "Hey, you better sign back with us. If you don't sign, you better wear the best elbow guard out there because we're going to smoke you."

So now it can be told. Pagan re-signed with San Francisco because he was threatened. Well, that and $40 million over four years.

Pagan and Marco Scutaro were in San Francisco on Friday for their physicals, Scutaro reporting that "they said I'm good to coach first base." They passed and their deals became official, assuring the entire starting lineup from the World Series championship team will return in 2013.

Both said they genuinely wanted to sign with the Giants. However, both were honest enough to admit that money was the deciding factor, and each agreed to re-sign when the team added an extra year.

Scutaro was particularly blunt in explaining that he wanted to maximize his earnings at 37 because this might be his final contract.

"I was looking for three thousand million dollars," Scutaro said, repeating his joke from the day of the parade. "They didn't get too close."

Marco Scutaro turned down a lucrative two-year offer from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Marco Scutaro turned down a lucrative two-year offer from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images

Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images

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Marco Scutaro turned down a lucrative two-year offer from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Marco Scutaro turned down a lucrative two-year offer from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images

Pagan, Scutaro happy to stay with Giants

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Scutaro noted that after the 2009 season he left money on the table to sign a two-year, $11 million contract with the Red Sox so he could be on a winning team, "and all I gained was a bald head. We didn't win anything."

More seriously, he expressed gratitude for the three-year, $20 million deal he got from the Giants after getting the World Series-winning single.

Scutaro turned down a two-year offer from the Cardinals that would have provided a higher average annual salary of $8 million. He was recruited by Cardinals manager Mike Matheny and some players, but not Matt Holliday, who injured Scutaro with a barrel roll at second base in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Pagan was one of several center fielders attracting significant interest in the market.

"It seems like everybody was talking three years," he said. "That's why I was holding up and hoping that the Giants would be the first one to step in and make the fourth-year proposal, and they were the first ones. Right after my agent said they offered four years at $4o million, I said yes because I wanted to come back and it's very important how you feel on a team.

"I want to be a champion one more time - if possible, four more years - and that's why I signed back with the Giants. Obviously with the fans, ownership, the organization, it's a very special feeling."

When Pagan agreed to his deal Monday, he phoned Scutaro and implored him to re-sign, too, though he understood that finances might take the second baseman elsewhere. Scutaro signed two days later.

Their deals come with questions. Many have argued that the Giants overpaid Pagan after one good season and gave Scutaro too much for a player his age.

Scutaro said he believes that as long as he stays healthy he can be productive. ("Omar Vizquel played till he was 55," he joked.)

Pagan pledged he will not become complacent as many players do after signing for big dollars after great contract drives.

"I know the expectations are going to be very high, and I want to give the best I can give to the fans," he said. "From Day 1, I came to this organization and I said it: 'I'm going to go out there and play my heart out.' "

But first, Pagan plans to play for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic in March. He also plans to buy a house in San Francisco.

Scutaro has no plans to play in the WBC. Asked about home-buying in the Bay Area, he said, "If I would have gotten three thousand million, I might have."